Johannes Hendricus "Joop" Stoffelen (23 January 1921 – 26 June 2005) was a Dutch

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Stoffelen mainly played for

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

, but also had stints at

RC Paris Racing Club de France Football (, also known as Racing Paris, RCF Paris, Matra Racing, Racing Club, or Racing) is a French association football club based in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. Racing was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline spor ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

Blauw-Wit Amsterdam FC Blauw-Wit Amsterdam ( en, Blue-White) was a Dutch football club from Amsterdam. The name referred to the colours of their uniform, blue and white. History Founded on 10 May 1902 as a local club in the Kinkerbuurt area of Amsterdam, from 1928 i ...

and Neerlandia.

Career

Stoffelen was fifteen years old when he first appeared for

. Before that, he played with the amateurs of SEO, where he ended up in the first team after only three years of playing organised football. In the time that Stoffelen ended up at Ajax in late 1930s, it was wartime and at that time Ajax lost many players to the

mobilization Mobilization is the act of assembling and readying military troops and supplies for war. The word ''mobilization'' was first used in a military context in the 1850s to describe the preparation of the Prussian Army. Mobilization theories and ...

. It was also the period in which the successful team of the 1930s needed to be replaced. Stoffelen made his debut as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, replacing the legendary

Wim Anderiesen Willem Gerardus "Wim" Anderiesen (27 November 1903 – 18 July 1944) was a Dutch footballer. Club career Born in Amsterdam, he played for Romein and 't Gooi before being admitted to Ajax, where he would play from 1925 to 1940, winning five ...

in this position. On 24 March 1940, Stoffelen made his debut against KFC Koog aan de Zaan. After two and a half seasons in the position, Stoffelen moved to left midfielder. From that moment on, Jany van der Veen was preferred centrally. As a left mid, Stoffelen was highly appreciated. In the meantime he had also been promoted to

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

. He was also part of the Dutch squad for the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

, but he did not play in any matches. In the 1950–51 season he became the second Ajax player to become a professional abroad. In that season, he left for the French club

. He only played half a season with this club and then left for

. After two years in Toulouse, Stoffelen returned to the Netherlands. When he returned, he was only allowed to play football again after a year due to strict rules on professionalism in the Netherlands. On professionalism in football, Stoffelen since stated: "''Sport om den brode is geen sport''" ("sports for bread is not sports"). He returned to amateur football after serving a suspension, at

. Afterwards played for a while at Neerlandia, where he also became a coach. He later also managed De Spartaan and DCG, and became coach of a team of former internationals. Only in 1992 he was fired by the

Royal Dutch Football Association The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch Netherlands nati ...

(KNVB) as coach of the former internationals. Stoffelen died on 26 June 2005 at age 84 in Lelystad.

References

Citations

External links

In memoriam: Joop Stoffelen (1921-2005)Profile at Ajax official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoffelen, Joop 1921 births 2005 deaths Dutch men's footballers Dutch football managers Netherlands men's international footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers AFC Ajax players Racing Club de France Football players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Expatriate men's footballers in France Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for the Netherlands Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Amsterdam Blauw-Wit Amsterdam players